a couple questions

[concept3]

ok, here is the situation. i recently purchased two crested geckos, i keep them in a 33 gallon tank with a screen lid. i have a 50 watt bulb on in the day and a 50 watt night bulb at night, i keep them on the ends of the tank so half of the tank is cooler. In the day the warm side of thetankisabout 78-80 and at night about 70, keeping in mind their is a cool side in the tank. My cresties are about 2 1/2 inches head to tail, just babies. i live in alberta so its quite low humidity about 40%. I mist them in the morning about 7, in the afternoon about 4 and at night, aabout 9 oclock, but inbetween these periods the humidity drops to about 40 is that ok? also i was wondering what kind of substrate for the babies? i was thinking topsoil or bed-a-beast which one is better? im leaning towards topsoil because the crickets cannot hide in it. If anyone sees anything wrong with my setup or can answer my questions i thank you for your input

[Dragons & Balls]

Hi Concept3
I live in edmonton also and I have 1.2 cresties (breeders)
and i have 7 babies left.... We have all the babies with range from 3 months to 7 months on paper towel this way they don't eat the substrate. My adults have a container of peat moss that fits the bottom of the cage, so this way when i feed them crickets they don't eat the peat moss i just take the container out. I also have 1.2 adults in a 25 gal. AND no heat...
They are just in our bedroom on the dresser.
Hope this helps
Gino and LaRea
Dragons and Balls

[little_dragon_]

Your set up sounds nice...do you really need the heat lamp. They thrive at room temperature. If you want to use a soil substrate I would wait until they appear to be pro hunters. Get some live plants like snake plants and potho's they will help keep the humidity up. But either way spraying three times a day is perfect.

[concept3]

um, i think maybe the heat lamps are not necessary but i live in the basement so the temp is like 65? i think thats too cold ??

[CDN-Cresties]

I agree with what has been said, no need for the heat lamps. I personally use paper towel as a substrate, I have seen one of my cresties choke on some bed-a-beast and it freaked me out, luckily she survived but i have read of cresties dying from choking on loose substrate. Try to keep the humidity around 60-75%, im sure that getting rid of the heat lamps will help you out with this. Also some people may argue that your tank is too big for babies, personally its up to you just watch to make sure they are catching their prey.
Best of luck and post more questions if you have any. :D

[CDN-Cresties]

Oh in that case, use a heat bulb. Try to aim for 70-75 degrees. :D

[DragnDrop]

If it gets to 65F overnight, then just use the heat lamps during the day to get it into the mid 70's. They're perfectly okay in the 60's at night. Wild ones are actively eating and mating at those temperatures. I keep crestie eggs in the mid to high 60 F range and they hatch without any problems. If eggs can survive that, then the geckos can too.

[ballpython101]

so u guys are sayin that i can buy 2 crested n leave them in a 10g. tank without a light ??? (bedroom light is fine ?)

[DragnDrop]

The no light part is right, they can get enough light from general room lighting to get the day/night cycle. They won't need extra heat if the temperature is comfy enough for you (that's part of the charm of cresties - they're comfy if you are). However, I don't think you can keep a pair of adults happy in a 10 gallon tank. That's the bare minimum for one adult, even 15 gallons would be better for an adult. A pair should have at least 15, preferably 20 + gallons. And as always, it's not good to keep 2 males together, though some people have managed it as long as there's no female anywhere in sniffing distance.

[AnthonyC]

The humidity is fine, but I have a hard time believing that a 50 watt bulb only creates a temp of 78-80. I use 25 or 40 watt bulbs on my largest Green Tree Python enclosures and I still get a basking spot of 90 degrees. I would use nothing stronger than a 25 watt bulb for them and only during the day.

As for a substrate, I would stick with paper towels or newspaper. I've heard of babies choking to death on clumps of coconut husk (aka bed-a-beast) and even soil.

[dj_honeycuts]

Anthony - You have no idea as to how hard it can be to maintain temps in the igloos that us Canucks live in. :D
I've got a fifty watt about 3-4 inches over my tens that my Phelsuma are housed in. Day time temps in the 84-90 range, and I'm not in a basement. 33 gallon tank= 3.3 times the total volume to heat, and about 1.5 times the area for heat dispersal through the top.
I've been down the living in the basement trying to maintain proper temps road, and I agree with what Hilde has said about the matter. Heat lamp during the day, nothing at night should be fine.
I also agree with Anthony on misting and substrate. I've had all of my cresteds for going on 5 years and never had a shedding problem. I give them a real good soaking to wake them up at night and increase humidty for their "active" period. I've also heard of problems with bark, soil, and bed-a-beast as substrates. Paper towels are cheaper, and easier to keep a clean cage for the kids.
Good Luck!

[ColleenT]

my opinion on topsoil is that i think it would be a bad choice. i say that for a few reasons. number one, the babies can grab it when they try to catch their food. the crix will also blend in to the same color of the soil and be harder to see, and they will also burrow into the soil. also, when your geckos defecate and urinate, eventually you will have to clean that out. it will be hard to see and they have to live with that smell in there. too hard to clean.

i use a rubber-ish shelf liner from the kitchen section of Walmart. it is a solid rubbery material, and very easy to clean. and the crix cannot get under it, like thay can with a paper towel. Good luck, the rest of your set up sounds good. i use a 50 watt red bulb at night, so i can see tham and so they sstay warm enough. where i live, it gets pretty cold, too. so with the red bulb it stays at 72-73 farenheit. during the day, if it is cold, i use a uva/uvb light to help the plants, and provide good lighting for them. that is just me, some will say they don't need it, but i am not going to take the chance.

[AnthonyC]

Originally posted by dj_honeycuts
Anthony - You have no idea as to how hard it can be to maintain temps in the igloos that us Canucks live in. :D
I've got a fifty watt about 3-4 inches over my tens that my Phelsuma are housed in. Day time temps in the 84-90 range, and I'm not in a basement. 33 gallon tank= 3.3 times the total volume to heat, and about 1.5 times the area for heat dispersal through the top.

LOL - What does being in Canada have to do with it!?!?! You're not going to convince me that room temperature is warmer in Missouri than it is in Canada. :p

Seriously, though. My reptile room stays about 75-76 in the summer and a 25 watt bulb is all that's necessary for my Chondro cages. In the winter, the temps drop about 5-10 degrees and then they get a 40 watt bulb. We're talking animals that need an 85-90 degree basking spot and in cages that are 24x24x24....way bigger than a 33 gallon tank.

I would bet you're not measuring the temperature of the area that the bulb is aimed at directly. I use a temp gun to measure temperatures and you'd be surprised how hot it gets under a 50 watt bulb. If I put a 50 watt bulb in a Chondro cage, the perch (about 8-10" under the bulb) gets to 100-105 degrees directly under the bulb. While the heat is not going to kill the Cresties if they can get away from it, you are still creating a basking area that is way too hot for them to tolerate, let alone use and benefit from.

The idea of providing supplemental heat to Crested Geckos is not to heat the entire cage to 80 degrees, but to give them a basking spot that they can use to rest on. With a 25 watt bulb (no matter where you live) you should be able to provide a basking spot that's plenty warm (80-82) for ciliatus, provided the room doesn't dip below 65 degrees. If the room gets much cooler than that, I would suggest something like a 15 watt bulb on each end of the cage to provide a more gentle heat.

It's all a matter of preference I guess, but my Crested Gecko breeder cages are equipped with heat tape running at 80 degrees only on one end, and they breed just fine...even in the winter, when the cool end of the cage is at 66-68 degrees.

[Burium]

Trust me, Anthony. The temp diff and the amount of energy needed to maintain a certain temp is drastically diff in the north compared with the south. I was born and raised in North Dakota. It gets cold. Like -40 F in winter. Even if your house is set to 72 F it's still cold. It seeps in and in a basement, it's even worse. So yes I could see how a 50 watt wouldn't make much of a diff in winter, but in summer I don't think it would be needed. IMHO.

Kelly

[AnthonyC]

Kelly,

I do understand that the room may get cold, but using a light bulb that's going to raise the basking spot to 100+ degrees, just to get the rest of the cage to stay at a suitable temperature, is not the way to do it. Ambient temps and basking temps are tough to balance in a cold room. With Cresteds, who are sensitive to too much heat, if you need anything larger than a 25 watt bulb, you either need to use more 25 watt bulbs (to distribute the heat evenly) or use a space heater to raise the temperature in the room.

[little_dragon_]

I live in Ontario, my room is in the basement I don't use any heat lamps. If you are worried about your crested gecko's getting too cold although I highly doubt it. Put their tanks by a vent. So they can get heat in the winter, and colder air in the summer. My fluorescent strip lights give off enough heat near the top of their tanks so if they need extra heat they can climb up on the leaves and get a basking spot of 80 degree's. In the winter this is about 74 degree's.

[dj_honeycuts]

Anthony- Got your temp. gun ready? Looks like we is gonna have us a good ol fashioned temp gun dual! :D

I don't need to convince you that the room temp is different for you because I think that we can both agree that room temp is whatever you keep it at. Mine sits at about 68 during the day in my reptile room to accomadate my leaftails. It dips down lower at night. If the basking spot was 100-105 I'm sure that my Phelsuma would have been crispy critters ages ago, and unless my temp gun is broken the basking spot is sitting at 88 roughly 6 inches below the lamp. It is aimed at a 30 degree angle though, so I'm sure that probably plays some part in dipersal of heat.

I think the point I was trying to make is that with two 50 watt bulbs on the tank concept3 is seeing a temp variance of 8-10 degrees. That would make the cage temp vary from about 60-70 with no supplemental heat source. I definitely don't disagree with you on the heat requirements, and I only put 15 watt bulbs over my Rhac cages for basking purposes during the breeding season. Heat tape or a heat pad was something that I did overlook, and would be the preferable way to raise ambient temps in the cage overall. I was workin the light angle because it was what concept3 said he/she was working with. In my opinion 60-70 is going to be on the chilly side for proper developement of a juvie crested; therefore raising the ambient temp by any means wouldn't be a bad idea. I've never noticed juvies basking, only my gravid females, so I stopped offering a basking spot to juvies a few years ago. Whether or not the juvie fries itself under a 100-105 basking spot is probably irrelevant, as you pointed out it just won't use it.

I don't disagree with anything you've said. So please don't take this the wrong way. :D

Incidently, I'll trade outdoor temps with you any day!
Currently:
Kansas City-20(68)
Edmonton- a brisk 3(37)

James

[concept3]

ok i have several undertank heaters not being used right now, are uth a good way to raise ambient air temp? lol i know that sounds dumb but im fairly new with lizards i mainly deal with frogs that sit directly on the uth all day and the ambient isnt very important.

[Leviathan]

Basically, whatever heat you are using your daytime temp should be 70- 75 and your night time around 65. There temperatures in the wild are even known to drop as low as 50 degrees. Temperatures around 80 degrees over time can be harmful to cresteds. Also mine are kept on organic paper towell that is kept ever so slighty damp. (just a light mist on top and not even all the time) I don't think uth raise the ambient temp much if at all but I've never really tried it :) Hope that helps.

Alecia